Garnet felt a cloth wipe her forehead and a pillow slotted behind her neck to keep her comfy. In the background, a gurgling was ceased by a soft voice going 'Shh' and then a small girl's laughter at something. She fluttered open her eyelids and turned her head slightly to see the scene in front of her. Kuja and Mikoto were on the floor; Mikoto was laughing at Kuja as he pulled funny faces. Dreamily, Garnet wondered when Kuja had died his hair blonde and then reality came swarming into her mind again. She tried to sit up straight quickly but Zidane was beside her in an instant.

'Good evening Dara.' He said and pushed her, slowly but firmly, back down so she was lying down again. Garnet looked at the child on the floor and saw that she was not harmed, she was playing with a small toy that looked like it had been brought that day, for the plastic was still new and shiny. Suddenly, she was aware of the sheets on her legs; she looked down to see that she was stripped down to her bra and knickers. Beside her, on the floor, were her clothes. She looked up at Zidane expecting him to be grinning like a maniac, but he was just sitting there. He ran a hand through his hair and looked straight at her. 'How many times has he hit you?' Zidane asked and Garnet looked away.

'That was the first time.' She said, her eyes scanning the wallpaper next to her head.

'Don't lie to me.' Zidane said in a sigh and Garnet's head shot round. In an instant Zidane saw the fear in her eyes and he moved his hand to put it on her arm. When he put his hand on her arm, her arm tensed and she flinched and shut her eyes together tight. 'Oh god! What has he done to you?' Zidane said, near tears as Garnet slowly opened her eyes because he wasn't going to hit her. She put her hand out to him and lay it on his arm, like he had just done. Zidane looked up and she shrugged

'I usually deserve it.' She said and Zidane looked straight up from looking at her immaculate hand on his arm.

'You really think that?' he asked, his voice full of shock. Garnet nodded and looked at him. 'Nothing anyone does means they should get hit for it. Not like that.' he said in little more than a whisper and then turned round to Mikoto.

'He hit me because you had Mikoto, I didn't know where you were.' She burst out and Zidane looked round. Then looked back at Mikoto.

'Don't you trust me?' Zidane asked with a sadness Garnet had never heard before in his voice. Garnet didn't answer; she turned away and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, she was asleep.

Beatrix looked up from the paper work she had been putting off for ages and saw the knights doing the daily march round the castle to look for intruders out the window. One of the knights saw her and saluted her; she saluted back without realising it. She looked up from them and over the water, to the town of Alexandria, to the crowd that was setting up their market stalls and the small children running around. Through the middle of it all, was a carriage. She watched as the drawbridge was put down for it and then watched at it was pulled up behind it. She could just make out the sign for Lindblum on the side of the carriage and she smiled. Settling down again, she picked up another paper to work on. Everything was normal; everything was like how it should be.

Garnet dreamt of Kuja coming and taking her away, how angry he would be, and how she would be hit again and again, blood would pour out of her nose, she could taste it in her mouth. She would be gasping for breath as he kicked her in the ribs and broke them... She woke up suddenly, her mouth open and her breaths uneven and shallow.

She looked round her, she was in the bed, Zidane was on a chair, and Mikoto was in a cot next to her. She looked back to Zidane, seeing if his eyes were closed, they were. Carefully and trying not to make a sound, she got dressed and lifted Mikoto from her cot. Then she crept to the door and opened it, slipped out and closed it behind her. She got down the stairs and out the door, then she ran to the air station and took the train to the industrial district, then she ran to her house and went in. She put Mikoto in her cot and opened the door to her and Kuja's room, where Kuja was sitting on the bed, his head in his hands. He looked up when she came in and his eyes lit up

'Garnet! Come here, I was so afraid you had left me.' He said in a voice that made all the hurt he had done earlier better, made her feel like he hadn't done it. She must have tripped on the stairs or ran into something to get the bruises and the cuts. She went and sat down on his knee, and put her head on his chest 'I love you so much Garnet.' Kuja said into her hair and put his arms round her. Garnet closed her eyes and leant into him more.

'I love you too.' she said and kissed him…

Vivi broke into a run and overtook Eiko; he looked back at her and laughed, then looked forwards again and nearly crashed into the wall of the inn in Dali. He stopped and swerved round it. Then waited by the wishing well for Eiko. She eventually came to sit next to him and they looked at each other.

'Ready?' Vivi asked and looked over the path to the mayor's house. Eiko looked too and saw the badly tempered mayor walking around inside the hut.

'As ready as I'll ever be…' she replied and walked over the road. Knocking on the door, she looked over and saw Vivi was holding back. She waved him over but he shook his head. She didn't have time to run over the road and get him, for then, the mayor opened the door. 'Hello sir, I need to talk to you…about the black mages.' She said and he looked her up and down. 'Can I come in?' she asked and he looked right in her face.

'No.' he said and slammed the door in her face. Eiko sat down on the step.

'I just want know a few things…' Eiko said, turning round at the end to see if he opened the door again and then turning back to look over the village. '…Do you still have the machines to make them with?' she asked into the street loudly and the door opened.

'Get in!' the mayor screeched and pulled her in. While they talked inside, Vivi watched as kids ran past him. He realised how some of them looked so much like the kids that were here last time he came here, with Zidane, Garnet and Steiner. The kids who had stuffed him in a box all those years ago. He tapped them on the shoulder and they turned to look at him.

'Do you remember putting a small black mage into a box? Years ago, he came here with three other people. A knight, a thief and a princess.' The boys looked at him blank for a few moments and then their eyes lit up

'That was my dad!' one squeaked and smiled at the stranger

'Yeah? Well, that black mage was me.' Vivi said and the boys looked at him up and down. He moved his hat up so they could see his glowing eyes and they gasped.

'Don't hurt us!' one squeaked and hid behind another kid.

'I'm not going to. That was ages ago, I just wanted to say hi.' Vivi replied and smiled at them

'H…hi.' One of the boys said and then looked at the others. They all waved and then carried on playing 'Wanna play?' the boy asked as they stretched out a skipping rope. Vivi smiled and nodded…

Eiko came out later to find Vivi lying on the grass talking to a lot of kids the same age as him, maybe a bit younger. When he saw her, he got up and said goodbye to them all.

'Ok, so what did he say?' He asked and Eiko shook her head.

'All destroyed.' She replied and he sighed, then followed her out of the village. Some of the adults in the village remembered a black mage like that one had once come to the village and they had packaged it up. The people the black mage had come with saved him, and they left on the cargo ship. Things had changed from their days, there they had been scared of the little mage, where now the kids of the village were lying next to it and talking to it…

'Of course I knew she was here…' Cid told Hilda when she asked if he had known Garnet was hiding here. '…I know everything that happens in this city.'

'Why didn't you tell Zidane?' Hilda said in desperation. Cid turned to her and looked at her with a 'can-you-not-guess' expression.

'He has to find her on his own. Its between her and him this thing, if Zidane had come here because I told him to, then Garnet would have found out, and there would be no chance of her going back to Alexandria.' He stated and walked out the room. Hilda stood there for a minute and then walked after him.

'Eiko saw her at Maiden Sari about two months ago, when I asked her if she was going to tell Zidane, she shook her head and said that Garnet didn't want her too.' Hilda said to Cid's back 'why is everyone keeping stuff from Zidane?' she asked and Cid stopped, he turned round with an angry expression.

'In that letter, the one Garnet left when she left Alexandria, she told Eiko why she left. Eiko is the only one who knows why Garnet left. Zidane's a snake Hilda; he took everything from Garnet and then threw it all back in her face. I don't want to help Zidane get Garnet, he'll just hurt her again!' he cried and walked even faster down the corridor. 'Everyone has kept where Garnet's whereabouts secret from Zidane, everyone knows where she is, but none of us are going to help Zidane…' Cid carried on

'…Except me.' Eiko interrupted, Cid and Hilda turned round to see the kid standing there, next to the black mage, a determined look on her face. 'I know the most about everything that has happened, I was the only one who Zidane would talk to over these years, I know what he has been like. I'm gunna help him.' Eiko said, turned on her heel and walked out again, followed by the black mage, who didn't utter a word.

'…What did Zidane do?' Hilda asked her husband and he sighed and led her into an empty room.

'This is all Eiko told me…' he began…